Pair sentenced for selling smuggled jaguar skins in South Florida

March 6, 2012|By David Fleshler

Two wildlife smugglers were sentenced to federal prison Monday for trafficking in the skins of endangered jaguars, which they tried to sell in South Florida.

Elias Garcia Garcia, 53, and Maria Angela Plancarte, 53, both of La Feria, Texas, were sentenced to one year and one day in prison and face deportation from the United States following the completion of their terms.

They had sold two jaguar pelts to an undercover agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for $3,000 in Texas, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. and they sold more pelts to an agent in Homestead, Fla., for $4,000 in cash, representing payment for skins delivered and a deposit for 10 more to be smuggled into the United States from Mexico, according to the release.

Using the cover of a plant seed company, they had made several trips to South Florida to sell smuggled jaguar skins.

They had pleaded guilty in November.

The jaguar, the largest cat in the Americas, once ranged from most of South America through the southwestern United States. Sightings in the U.S. are now extremely rare. Major threats are hunting and deforestation.